Chapter 4

“Oh dear boy, you’ve really done it now” Raven muttered, Damion stirred from his slumber. He groaned as the sunlight hit his face Raven it’s too bright. “Right boy! GET UP!” Damion suddenly got flung from his bed as he opened his eyes he came face to face to a mutilated body. Damion sat up bolt right and screamed,

“Raven what did you do?” he said terrified,

“Me?” he burst with laughter “Not me, you boy. This is your doing” he stated pointing at him. Terror showed in Damions eyes,

“M-m-me?” he quivered.

“Yes you, you mutilated this poor girl, you and only you”

“But……how is this possible” he paused how could I do such a thing”

“Well it wasn’t you so much boy, but a beast, a terrible creature”

“A creature?”

“Yes the very things that attacked your village” he stopped abruptly, “They caused the fire”

“What, Raven how could you hide this from me?” he began to raise his voice, “How could you not tell me!”

“Lad keep your voice down”

“No Raven!” he shouted “I will not how could you not tell me I’d-I’d become that beast”

“Lad they’ll hear you” he said trying to calm him.

“Who cares, I’m dead inside”

“No you’re not”

“YES, yes I am, I’m a monster I blood thirsty monster” Damion broke to the floor in tears. “I’m just dead” Raven moved forwards to him to comfort him but Damion quickly slapped his hand away from him, “Don’t touch me” anger flared in Damions eyes.

“Quick this is where the blood leads!” a cry echoed. Soon a flurry of people came rushing up the stairs, each one creaking loudly as they stepped on them.

“Quick boy, run…run”

“No Raven, I deserve this, I no longer want to live” The door flung open to a sight that would make even the strongest stomach turn. They gasped and turned away from the mess.

“It’s him, the new boy in town” a villager yelled “Get him!” A couple of people rushed forwards just to be blocked my Raven,

“No it was not this boy, it was me” Raven looked shamefully and looked to the floor, “Take me” All the villagers looked between there selves shocked at hearing this and words were muttered between them. Raven was caught by surprised and pushed to the side by Damion

“No, it was me I won’t let myself do this again, take me and do what you will” a couple of what seemed to be guards came forwards and wrapped rough rope around his wrists restraining him,

“How could you young boy, how could you kill that young girl, what do you have to say for yourself?” the guard said angrily. Damion looked to the floor almost without answer but looked up to say,

“I’m just dead inside” and soon looked back to the floor as a single tear rolled down his cheek.

The guards took him away dragging him along violently.

“Boy? What have you done” Raven stood in the room now alone. “How can I stop this, that boy has so much more he needs to know, but I’m not the one who needs to tell him, he needs to find out himself” Raven looked through the empty door frame “I must stop this”

“Now get in there and keep quiet” Damion was thrown down onto the hard rock floor sending a spark of pain rushing through his cheek as it hit the hard, cold ground. Damion weakly tried to climb back up but his hands were still tied, the rope was beginning to give him a rash. He winced at the pain; his wrists were going raw red.

“Excuse me?” he called out. He waited a few seconds but no reply, “Excuse me!” he shouted, and still no reply came down the harrowed halls. “Excuse me” he shouted even louder, this time he heard footsteps coming down the hall, the lock behind him clicked and Damion struggled up to look who it was. A sharp pain shot straight through Damions head as he suddenly was hit to the floor; the guard had hit the blunt end of his spear against Damions head with a powerful force.

“Ahhhh!”

“I said quiet” another blow came straight into the back of his head inflicting agonising pain. Tears streamed down Damions face, “I…..said….quiet!” A final blow knocked Damions head with skull crushing force, knocking him clean.

“Come on brother lets go to the river” the little boy cried,

“Not today Ira, I’m not in the mood” said Damion mournfully.

“Awwwww please big brother” little Ira gave Damion puppy eyes.

“I’m sorry Ira, I just don’t want to today”

“Big brother?” Ira said concernedly

“Yeah?”

“You’ve not been the same since mommy went away” Ira hugged Damion “It makes me upset brother, I want fun brother again” Damion looked up and chuckled,

“Well Ira, then you need to know something first” Ira looked puzzled,

“Yeah” A smile spread across Damions face,

“Tag, your it” Damion ran away through the fields as Ira chased him laughing the whole way. Damion purposely but slyly slowed down so Ira could tag him back,

“Tag! Your it brother” Ira ran on laughing hard as Damion chased him down. Damion tripped over one of the ruts as Ira ran on towards the river.

“Wait Ira” he called “Wait for me the river is not safe this time of year” but Ira was laughing to loudly to hear, Damion clambered to his feet to try and catch up. Ira gained closer to the edge of the river, the side overgrown with twisted vines and bushes. The river was completely invisible to a young boy like Ira.

“Ira stop” he gained even closer to Ira but Ira was still closer to the river. Damion could hear it, the river was loud and roaring down through the rocks. Damion picked up speed but was too late to catch Ira. Ira stopped but was too close to the edge and fell into the torrent of water.

Damion finally caught up to see Ira rushing down through the rocks, getting battered and bruised. He didn’t think and jumped in and got carried downstream catching up with Ira. He finally caught him and wrapped around him shielding him from further harm, but a flaw appeared as Damion got battered by the jagged rocks cuts and bruises appeared all over his body. The twosome swirled around in the water still getting battered. Damion knew all too well if he didn’t do something soon they would reach the waterfall and surely be done for. The idea of being impaled on the rocks sickened him. Damion acted fast and tried to grab onto the closest rock but the river claimed of Ira and dragged him further down and then soon Ira disappeared over the edge. Only a crunch broke the unearthly silence.

“No Ira!” Damion screamed but turned to see a fallen log hurling towards him knocking him off the rock dragging him to the edge.

Damions memory started to blur...and…..only………..white

“Ira” Damion cried out, footsteps echoed down the hall as a guard came through the metal gate once again. Damion braced himself for the pain this time and gritted his teeth as the blunt blow hit him,

“I said be quiet” yelled the guard “You hear me! Quiet!” he finished with a final blow and left. Tears accompanied him and ran down his face making him wet with sadness. He crawled forwards to the grey wall and twisted himself to allowing him to sit up. He lifted his head to see a wrought iron gate with rusty hinges, accompanied with brown rusty bars. The hall was dark and not even shadows seemed to claim the halls.Only drops of water hitting the ground broke the silence. This truly was a hellish place.

“I have a brother” Damion whispered to himself, “But how can I not remember I had a brother?” the darkness now seemed to be closing in on him, how could he forget that he had a brother, how could he forget his own brother.

Damion had slipped into a deep sleep but was awakened by the sound of a loud grinding sound. His vision blurred before he could see a large armoured guard had entered his entered his hard walled cell. The guard stood and seemed to be staring Damion down. He carried on staring before he finally said,

“Damion, is it?” Damion just stared back shocked that the guard seemed to be so nice,

“Um yes sir” he said nervously,

“So you realise what is going to happen tonight don’t you?” the guard said kneeling down to Damion.

“Uh no sir, I do not”

“Then let me explain it to you son, we are going to wait till the sun goes down and its brother honours us with its presence”

“The moon?” Damion interrupted,

“Yes the moon” the guard smiled “We then are going to chain you to the large statue in the centre of town, you know the one right?”

“Statue?” he questioned,

“Yes the statue of the famous werewolf hunter, Zidan the Great, we are going to chain you and see what happens” he paused to see Damion looking down and placed his hand under his chin, pulled him up to look at him, the guards eyes were an aqua blue. “Now listen to me if you change tonight we will shoot at the first sight but if you don’t, we will set you free but you must leave our village”

“I know, he took me in” he looked down “ he looked after me” The guard saw the despair in his eyes and slyly gave him a hug making sure no-one was watching,

“Listen son I don’t enjoy this job, killing people everytime they come into the cells, beating them, taking people away and exiling them, do you really think that anyone can enjoy that?” Damion looked confused,

“You don’t enjoy what you do?”

“No! Of course I don’t, truthfully none of us do” Damion even more confused than usual,

“Then if you hate your job, why did you join?”

“The same reason all of us did, we thought we could save people, we didn’t realise that what we really was doing was killing everyone who does even what I would consider the pettiest of crimes”

“Why don’t you quit”

“Because they won’t let us, we’ve seen the truth; we cannot have the truth leaked out, do you have any idea what that would do to the village?”

“No, what?”

“Panic, mass panic. People would see us as a threat rather than being able to protect them, killing even innocent souls” he sighed “Listen Damion” he paused to wait for Damion to look back up “Listen, I know that this thing that happens is not your fault, you’re not in control none of them ever are”

“You know?” a shimmer of hope seemed in the atmosphere, but Damion needed to handle this carefully or hope would be lost, “Then why don’t you say something?”

“Why? Well anyone who opposes the law or tries to free a prisoner will be killed, that’s why” he sigh yet again, “I would free you right now if I could, I know you’re a danger, but it’s not your fault” he smiled “I know you told me that your dead inside, but your not”

“But I-“

“No, no buts” he interrupted, “You are not dead inside I promise you, your just different. Your still in there, Damion is still there, but he is sharing his sanctuary with yet another” He stood up abruptly and walked to the iron door “Do not lose hope, it’s hard in here I know but within every dark corner, there is a small light a shimmer of hope” the guard winked “Just look for it” and with that before Damion could say a word he walked out as his footsteps echoed up the hall getting fainter and fainter until finally silence once again.

Damion:

A shimmer of hope, light in darkness, dark corners. Everything that guard said to me meant so much to me, hope, even though I could not see that light, I knew it was there from then on.

My Review

Reviews

Not bad, I like this chapter. The paragraphing, once again, and the grammar. Also, when a new speaker comes on, it should be a new paragraph. When a new action comes on, it should be a new paragraph, but you seem to be doing good about that.

Posted 4 Years Ago

No weakness in this chapter. I like the beginning. I like how he was given hope and learn of his brother. I like the old feel of this story. Remind of the old city lost in myth and legend. Chapter got stronger and better with each paragraph. A strong ending to a excellent chapter.
Coyote

Author

Gloucestershire, Stroud, United Kingdom

About

My real name is John-Paul Crawford, I do voluntary work at Stroud FM and hopefully after my training will be allowed my own slot on air. Writing takes up most of my time, I'm always trying to better m.. more..